“This is a joint venture to gain better knowledge of how the world’s largest social network handles personal information,” said legal expert Hans-Olof Lindblom from the Swedish Data Inspectorate (Datainspektionen) in a statement.

Last week the Norwegian Data Inspectorate sent social networking company Facebook a list of questions regarding the storage of user’s personal information.

The Norwegian Data inspectorate received a number of complaints from the public regarding Facebook’s use of personal information and felt that it had an obligation to contribute to raising awareness about the privacy aspects of using social networking services such as Facebook.

An investigation, resulting in a case study on Facebook, was initiated and the findings were sent along with the questions to the social networking company.

Despite Facebook’s policy to display comprehensive information on the website on how personal data is treated, the Norwegian Data Inspectorate found that it was still difficult for users to navigate the vast amount of information, and to fully understand the actual impact a Facebook membership has on their privacy.

Although it is the Norwegian agency that ultimately is in charge of the project, the questions have been compiled as a joint venture by agencies in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Faeroe islands, Finland and the Åland Islands, off the Swedish coast.

The agencies have asked Facebook to respond to their queries before the end of August.